JP2010206251A - Image forming device, memory area control method, and memory area control program - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To shorten an overhead time required for filter processing. <P>SOLUTION: In an image forming device having a plurality of functions including a filter processing function of print data, a common memory 300 stores data to be used in each of the plurality of functions. A filter application 215 executes filter processing for the print data. A print module 211d decides an area to be allocated for storage of the printed data, in the common memory 300, based on data capacity of the print data. The print data before filter processing are stored in a reception area 310 of the common memory 300, and the print data after filter processing are stored in a wiring area 320. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus having a plurality of functions including a print data filtering function, a storage area control method for controlling a storage area for storing data respectively used in the plurality of functions in the image forming apparatus, and a storage area It relates to the control program.

  Conventionally, when printing print data described in a special page description language (for example, HP: Hewlett-Packard Graphics Language) that has not been installed in an MFP (Multifunction Printer) or line printer, a filter is required before the language is interpreted. Printing is performed after converting print data into a general page description language (for example, Postscript or the like) using an application (hereinafter referred to as a filter application) (see, for example, Patent Document 1 below). Some filter apps not only convert to different page description languages, but also have functions such as converting Japanese into a foreign language and converting standard words into local languages. Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 2004-228561 discloses a technique for filtering print data sent from a user terminal and outputting the data to a printer or a fax machine.

  However, in the above prior art, the filter application reads the print data from the standard input for each predetermined buffer size, and writes the processed data to the standard output for each predetermined buffer size. For this reason, when the amount of print data is very large, or when the amount of data greatly increases before and after the filtering process, the number of times of reading / writing (copying) increases and the overhead time required for the filtering process increases. is there.

  SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide an image forming apparatus, a storage area control method, and a storage area control program capable of performing a filtering process with a short overhead time in order to solve the above-described problems caused by the prior art.

  In order to solve the above-described problems and achieve the object, an image forming apparatus according to a first aspect of the present invention is an image forming apparatus having a plurality of functions including a print data filtering function. A storage unit for storing data to be used, a filter processing unit for filtering the print data, and an area to be allocated for storing the print data in the storage unit are determined based on the data capacity of the print data. Determining means, wherein the storage means stores at least one of the print data before the filter processing or the print data after the filter processing in an area determined by the determination means; In this area, data used for functions other than the filter processing function is stored.

  The image forming apparatus according to a second aspect of the present invention is the image forming apparatus according to the first aspect, wherein the determining means sets different areas for the print data before the filter processing and the print data after the filter processing. The capacity of the area for storing the print data after the filter process is changed based on the allocation, the data capacity of the print data, and the conversion magnification of the filter process.

  The image forming apparatus according to a third aspect of the present invention is the image forming apparatus according to the second aspect, wherein the determining means stores the print data after the filter processing as an area for storing the print data after the filter processing. An area larger than the data capacity is allocated.

  An image forming apparatus according to a fourth aspect of the present invention is the image forming apparatus according to the first aspect, wherein the determining means stores the print data based on a data capacity of the print data and a conversion magnification of the filtering process. The ratio of the area for storing the print data before the filtering process to the area for storing the printing data after the filtering process is changed among the areas allocated for use.

  An image forming apparatus according to a fifth aspect of the present invention is the image forming apparatus according to any one of the first to fourth aspects, wherein the filter processing unit has a capacity of the print data after the filter processing as the determination unit. In the case where the capacity of the area allocated by (1) is larger, the print data after the filtering process is divided and sequentially stored in the allocated area.

  According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, in the image forming apparatus according to the first aspect, the determining unit allocates only an area for storing the print data before the filtering process, and a data capacity of the print data The capacity of the area for storing the print data before the filter processing is changed based on the above.

  An image forming apparatus according to a seventh aspect of the present invention is the image forming apparatus according to the sixth aspect, wherein the determining means stores the print data before the filtering process as an area for storing the printing data before the filtering process. An area larger than the data capacity is allocated.

  According to an eighth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a storage area control method for controlling a storage area for storing data respectively used in the plurality of functions in an image forming apparatus having a plurality of functions including a print data filtering function. A storage area control method, comprising: a determination step of determining an area to be allocated for storing the print data out of the storage areas based on a data capacity of the print data; and the filter in the area determined in the determination step A storage step of storing at least one of the print data before processing or the print data after filtering, and storing data used in other functions other than the filtering function in another area; , Including.

  According to a ninth aspect of the present invention, there is provided the storage area control method according to the eighth aspect, wherein the determining step includes different areas for the print data before the filter process and the print data after the filter process. And the capacity of the area for storing the print data after the filter processing is changed based on the data volume of the print data and the conversion magnification of the filter processing.

  According to a tenth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a storage area control method according to the ninth aspect of the invention, wherein, in the determining step, the area after the filter process is stored as the area for storing the print data after the filter process. An area larger than the data capacity of the print data is allocated.

  According to an eleventh aspect of the present invention, in the storage area control method according to the eighth aspect of the present invention, in the determination step, based on a data capacity of the print data and a conversion magnification of the filter processing, The ratio of the area for storing the print data before the filtering process to the area for storing the printing data after the filtering process is changed among the areas allocated for storage.

  A storage area control method according to a twelfth aspect of the present invention is the storage area control method according to any one of the eighth to eleventh aspects, wherein, in the storage step, the capacity of the print data after the filtering process is the determination step. The print data after the filtering process is divided and sequentially stored in the allocated area when the capacity is larger than the capacity of the allocated area.

  According to a thirteenth aspect of the present invention, in the storage area control method according to the eighth aspect of the invention, in the determination step, only the area for storing the print data before the filter processing is allocated in the determination step, and the data of the print data is assigned. The capacity of an area for storing the print data before the filter processing is changed based on the capacity.

  According to a fourteenth aspect of the present invention, in the storage area control method according to the thirteenth aspect, in the determination step, the printing before the filtering process is performed as an area for storing the printing data before the filtering process. An area larger than the data capacity of data is allocated.

  A storage area control program according to a fifteenth aspect of the invention causes a computer to execute the storage area control method according to any one of the eighth to fourteenth aspects.

  As described above, according to the image forming apparatus, the storage area control method, and the storage area control program of the present invention, it is possible to perform the filtering process with a short overhead time.

1 is a configuration diagram of a system according to an embodiment. FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a software configuration when a multifunction machine is operating. FIG. 6 is a block diagram for explaining direct read / write control of a shared memory by a multi-function peripheral. It is a block diagram which shows the process regarding starting of a filter application in detail. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a print data printing process in the multifunction peripheral. It is a block diagram for demonstrating the determination and setting process of a writing area. It is explanatory drawing which shows an example of the header information for filter applications in print data. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a writing area setting process by a print control application. It is explanatory drawing for demonstrating the threshold value in step S802 of FIG. FIG. 10 is a block diagram for explaining a printing process when only a reception area is provided.

  Exemplary embodiments of an image forming apparatus, a storage area control method, and a storage area control program according to the present invention will be explained below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

(Embodiment)
FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a system according to an embodiment. In a system 100 according to the present embodiment, a multifunction machine 101, a PC (personal computer) 102 that is a user terminal, and printers 103 and 104 are connected via a LAN 105. The LAN 105 is connected to the Internet 107 via a router 106, and the multi-function peripheral 101 is connected to a PSTN (Public Switched Telephone Network) / ISDN network 108. In addition, each device of the system 100 communicates with other devices using the TCP / IP protocol.

  In the present embodiment, so-called print filter technology is used to perform processing on print data. A print filter is generally an application executed on a print server or the like, which reads print data from standard input, converts print data, and writes it to standard output. Hereinafter, the print filter in the present embodiment is referred to as a filter application.

  In this embodiment, the MFP 101 executes the filter application. More specifically, the print data transmitted from the PC 102 is converted by the filter application of the multifunction machine 101 and printed by the printer application of the multifunction machine 101. As will be described later, in this embodiment, the filter application performs conversion processing not only on the print data on the standard input / output but also on the print data on the shared memory used by various applications in the multifunction peripheral 101. Can be done.

  FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a software configuration when the multifunction peripheral is operating. As shown in FIG. 2, the multi-function peripheral 101 includes a monochrome line printer (B & W LP) 231, a color line printer (Color LP) 232, and hardware resources such as a scanner, a facsimile, a hard disk (HD), a memory, and a network interface. And a software group 210 including a platform 220 and an application 230. The hardware resource 233 includes a shared memory 300 described later. The shared memory 300 is a memory that can be used by various applications in the multifunction peripheral 101, and has a storage capacity larger than that of the standard input / output.

  The platform 220 interprets a processing request from the application 230 and generates a hardware resource acquisition request, and manages one or a plurality of hardware resources and arbitrates the acquisition request from the control service. A manager (SRM) 223 and a general-purpose OS 221 are provided.

  The control service is formed of a plurality of service modules, and includes an SCS (system control service) 222, an ECS (engine control service) 224, an MCS (memory control service) 225, an OCS (operation panel control service) 226, and an FCS. (Fax control service) 227 and NCS (network control service) 228. The platform 220 has an application program interface (API) that can receive a processing request from the application 230 by a predefined function.

  The general-purpose OS 221 is a general-purpose operating system such as UNIX (registered trademark), and executes the software of the platform 220 and the application 230 in parallel as processes.

  The process of the SRM 223 performs system control and resource management together with the SCS 222. The SRM223 process uses the hardware resources of the scanner, printer, and other engines, memory, HDD files, and host I / O (centro I / F, network I / F, IEEE 1394 I / F, RS232C I / F, etc.). Arbitration is performed according to the request from the upper layer to be used, and execution control is performed. The process of the SCS 222 performs application management, operation unit control, system screen display, LED display, resource management, interrupt application control, and the like.

  The ECS 224 process controls the engine of the hardware resource 233, and the MCS 225 process acquires and releases image memory, uses a hard disk device (HDD), compresses and decompresses image data, and the like.

  The process of FCS 227 is an API for performing facsimile transmission / reception using PSTN / ISDN network 108 from an application, registration / quotation of various facsimile data managed by BKM (backup SRAM), facsimile reading, facsimile reception printing, and fusion transmission / reception. I will provide a.

  The process of the NCS 228 is a process for providing a service that can be commonly used for applications requiring network I / O. Data received from the network side by each protocol is distributed to each application, or data from the application Mediate when sending to the network side. Specifically, it has server daemons such as ftpd, httpd, lpd, snmpd, telnetd, and smtpd, and client functions of the same protocol. In this embodiment, the NCS 228 holds a queue name and a setting of the filter application 215 by a filter setting application 216 described later, and activates the filter application 215 to the control module 211d when print data including the queue name is received. It has a function to indicate.

  The OCS 226 controls an operation panel (operation panel) serving as information transmission means between the operator (user) and the main body control.

  The application 230 includes a printer application 211 that is a printer application that supports a page description language, a copy application 212 that is a copy application, a fax application 213 that is a facsimile application, and a scanner application 214 that is a scanner application. Have. The printer application 211 includes a PDL 211a, a PCL 211b, a PS 211c, and a control module 211d.

  The application 230 includes a filter application 215 that performs processing in the present embodiment and a filter setting application 216 that performs settings necessary for performing processing in the present embodiment for the NCS 228. . Each of these applications 230 is generated and operated as a process by an initialization unit (not shown) when the MFP 101 is activated.

  Each process of the application 230 and each process of the control service realize a user service related to image forming processing such as copying, printer, scanner, facsimile, etc. while performing inter-process communication by calling a function, sending its return value, and sending / receiving a message. is doing.

  As described above, the MFP 101 includes a plurality of applications and a plurality of control services, all of which operate as processes. In each of these processes, one or a plurality of threads are generated, and parallel execution in units of threads is performed. The control service provides a common service to the application 230. For this reason, a large number of these processes perform parallel operations and parallel operations of threads, and perform inter-process communication with each other while performing cooperative operations. User services related to image forming processing such as copying, printers, scanners, and facsimiles are provided. In the multifunction peripheral 101, a third party such as a third vendor can develop and install a new application in an application layer above the control service layer. The filter application 215 and the filter setting application 216 are one of such applications.

  Here, the print data after the conversion process by the filter application 215 may change greatly in data size compared to the print data before the conversion process. For example, when converting the page description language of print data from HPGL to Post Script, the data size after the conversion process is 50 times larger than before the conversion process. When the capacity of the print data is increased in this way, if the capacity of the area where the converted print data is written is fixed, the print data is divided and processed, so that the overhead time becomes longer.

  Therefore, in the multi-function peripheral 101, an area for storing print data before and after conversion processing by the filter application 215 is provided on the shared memory. More specifically, an area for storing print data before conversion processing is called a “reception area”, and an area for storing print data after conversion processing is called a “write area”. In the multi-function peripheral 101, header information including the data size and filter conversion magnification is added to the print data, and the size of the writing area on the shared memory is determined by the control module 211d in accordance with the conversion performance of the filter application 215. Thereby, the conversion process by the filter application 215 can be accelerated. When the print data is small, the area that can be used by other applications and the like increases by reducing the capacity of the shared memory reserved for the filter application. For this reason, the shared memory can be used effectively. In the present embodiment, it is assumed that the control module 211d is in an environment where a wide memory area such as a shared memory can be allocated to the filter application 215.

  FIG. 3 is a block diagram for explaining direct read / write control of the shared memory by the multifunction peripheral. As shown in FIG. 3, first, when the filter setting application 216 sets the queue name and the filter application in the NCS 228 (step S301), the control module 211d sets the reception area on the shared memory 300 where the print data is stored in the NCS 228. (Step S302). Next, when print data is sent together with the queue name from the PC 102 to the NCS 228 (step S303), the NCS 228 stores the print data in the reception area 310 on the shared memory 300 set by the control module 211d (step S304).

  In addition, the control module 211d activates the filter application 215, and the address (reception destination) of the reception area 310 where the print data is stored in the filter application 215 and the address (writing destination) of the writing area 320 where the converted print data is written. ) Is set in the filter application 215 (step S305). The filter application 215 reads the print data from the reception area 310 on the shared memory 300 (step S306), and after the conversion process, writes the converted print data in the write area 320 set by the control module 211d (step S307). The control module 211d sets the write destination of the converted print data in the PDL 211a (step S308), and the PDL 211a reads and interprets the converted print data from the write destination (step S309).

  FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating in detail processing related to activation of the filter application. As shown in FIG. 4, first, the filter setting application 216 sets a queue name 481 and a corresponding filter application (identification information (for example, file name) 482) for the NCS 228 (step S401). When the NCS 228 receives print data including the queue name 481 from the PC 102 (step S402), the NCS 228 instructs the control module 211d to activate the filter application 215 (step S403). The control module 211d activates the filter application 215 according to the instruction of the NCS 228 (step S404).

  FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating a print data print processing procedure in the multifunction peripheral. The multi-function peripheral 101 waits until power is turned on (step S501: No loop). When the power is turned on (step S501: Yes), various control services and various applications 230 including the NCS 228, the printer application 211, the filter setting application 216, and the filter application 215 are activated (step S502).

  Next, the filter setting application 216 sets the queue name and the filter application 215 corresponding to the queue name in the NCS 228. In addition, the control module 211d sets the reception area 310 on the shared memory 300 that stores the print data in the NCS 228 (step S503). This operation only needs to be performed once at the time of activation.

  The multi-function peripheral 101 waits for a print instruction from the PC 102 (step S504: No loop). When there is a print instruction from the PC 102 (step S504: Yes), the NCS 228 receives print data from the PC 102 via TCP / IP and stores it in the reception area 310 of the shared memory 300 set in step S503 (step S503). S505). Here, the print data is data described in a page description language such as Postscript, ESC / Page, RPCS, or the like.

  The NCS 228 checks the queue name set by the filter setting application 216 (step S506), instructs the control module 211d to start the filter application 215 corresponding to the queue name, and the control module 211d performs the filter according to the instruction. The application is activated (step S507). Then, the control module 211d determines a writing area 320 on the shared memory 300 in which the print data after the conversion process is recorded (Step S508). The determination process of the writing area 320 will be described in detail with reference to FIGS.

  Subsequently, the control module 211d inputs the address (reception destination) of the reception area 310 where the print data is recorded and the address (write destination) of the writing area 320 where the converted print data is stored to the standard input ( Step S509). The filter application 215 refers to the address of the reception area 310 input to the standard input, reads the print data from the reception area 310 (step S510), and performs a conversion process on the print data (step S511). This conversion processing includes, for example, conversion of a page description language, translation from Japanese to a foreign language in a document in print data, conversion from a standard language to a local language, and the like.

  Next, the filter application 215 refers to the address of the writing area 320 input to the standard input, and writes the print data after the conversion process in the writing area 320 (step S512). The control module 211d passes the address (writing destination) of the writing area 320 where the print data after the conversion process is recorded to the PDL 211a (step S513). The PDL 211a interprets the print data with reference to the writing area 320, prints on a print sheet or the like (step S514), and ends the processing according to this flowchart.

  Next, processing for determining an area on the shared memory 300 to be used as the writing area 320 (step S508 in FIG. 5) will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. FIG. 6 is a block diagram for explaining write area determination and setting processing. When the print data is recorded in the reception area 310 on the shared memory 300 by the NCS 228 (step S601), the control module 211d reads the filter application header information embedded at the head of the print data (step S602).

  The control module 211d determines the size of the write area 320 of the shared memory 300 from the information (the size of the print data, the change in size after conversion, etc.), and the address (reception destination) of the reception area 310 and the address of the write area 320 ( (Write destination) is passed to the filter application 215 (step S603). Then, the filter application 215 reads the print data from the reception area 310 (step S604), performs the conversion process, and then writes the print data after the conversion process in the write area 320 (step S605).

  FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example of the header information for filter application in the print data. The print data 700 includes filter application header information 701 and print information 702. The filter application header information 701 includes, for example, data size information (1792 bytes in the illustrated example) and filter conversion magnification (1.4 in the illustrated example) of data to be printed. Also, the printing information 702 includes various commands used during the printing process.

  FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing a write area setting process by the print control application. The control module 211d reads out the header information for the filter application (see FIG. 7) embedded at the head from the print data stored in the reception area 310 of the shared memory 300 in step S505 of FIG. 5 (step S801). Then, based on the header information for the filter application, it is determined whether or not the product of the print data size and the filter conversion magnification (print data size × filter conversion magnification) is larger than a predetermined threshold (for example, 100 bytes) (step S802). ).

  FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram for explaining the threshold value in step S802 of FIG. The threshold value is an initial value of an area secured as the writing area 320, and is an arbitrary value within the size of the writable area 900 on the shared memory 300 (32 bytes to 4096 bytes in the illustrated example).

  Returning to the description of FIG. 8, when the print data size × filter conversion magnification is larger than the threshold (step S802: Yes), the control module 211d enlarges the writing area 320 (step S803), and print data size × filter conversion magnification. (For example, 1792 × 1.4 = 2506 bytes when the print data size is 1792 bytes and the filter conversion magnification is 1.4) is secured. On the other hand, when the print data size × the filter conversion magnification is not larger than the threshold (step S802: No), the control module 211d reduces the write area 320 (step S804), and the write area for the print data size × the filter conversion magnification. 320 (for example, 150 × 0.5 = 75 bytes when the print data size is 150 bytes and the filter conversion magnification is 0.5 times) is secured.

  Then, the control module 211d inputs the address (reception destination) of the reception area 310 where the print data is recorded and the address (write destination) of the writing area 320 for storing the print data after the conversion processing to the standard input ( Step S805), the process according to this flowchart is terminated. Note that the process of step S805 is the process of step S509 in FIG. Thereafter, the printing process is performed according to the procedure shown in FIG.

  As described above, the MFP 101 according to the embodiment calculates the size of the converted print data from the filter application header information, and changes the capacity of the writing area 320 according to the calculated size. Specifically, when the size of the print data increases, the size of the writing area 320 is increased so that writing can be performed at once. Thereby, the conversion process of the filter application 215 can be accelerated. If the print data capacity is small, the area reserved for the filter application is reduced. Thereby, the area on the shared memory 300 used by other applications can be increased, and the shared memory 300 can be effectively used.

  In the above-described embodiment, the size of the writing area 320 is changed. However, the size of the receiving area 310 can also be changed using the header information of the print data. For example, when the capacity of the reception area 310 is fixed at a certain threshold (for example, 100 bytes), if the print data is larger than the threshold, the print data is divided and received, resulting in overhead time due to repetitive processing. For this reason, by changing the size of the reception area 310 using the header information for the filter application, it is possible to eliminate the overhead time due to repetitive processing.

  More specifically, the reception area 310 is secured with an area of a predetermined size as an initial value. When the print data transmitted from the PC 102 is larger than the initial value, the print data is divided and the print data for the initial value is received. The received print data includes header information, so that the data size of the entire print data can be known. The size of the receiving area 310 is expanded so that all the remaining print data can be received from this information, and the remaining print data is received.

  For example, when the initial value of the reception area 310 is 128 bytes and the size of the print data is 512 bytes, first, the first 128 bytes of print data are received and stored in the reception area 310. The size of the remaining print data (512-128 = 384 bytes) is calculated from the header information included in the received information, and the remaining print data is received after extending the reception area 310 to 384 bytes.

  Further, when the conversion magnification of the filter is high (for example, 50 times), the writing area 320 needs to be large. However, since the shared memory 300 is also finite, the size of the writing area 320 is also limited (for example, in the example shown in FIG. 9, the maximum size is 4096 bytes). Therefore, by reducing the reception area 310 according to the conversion magnification of the filter and using that amount as the writing area 320, the filter conversion process can be performed efficiently.

  For example, if the receiving area 310 and the writing area 320 can each use a maximum of 4096 bytes, a total of 8192 bytes can be used. When the conversion magnification of the filter is 50, the size of the reception area 310 is set to 1/50 of the writing area 320, the receiving area 310 is 160 bytes, and the writing area 320 is 8032 bytes. Thereby, it is possible to efficiently perform the filter conversion process within the restricted area.

  Furthermore, the receiving area 310 alone may be provided without providing the writing area 320 in the shared memory 300. FIG. 10 is a block diagram for explaining the printing process when only the reception area is provided. As shown in FIG. 10, first, when the filter setting application 216 sets the queue name and filter application in the NCS 228 (step S1001), the control module 211d receives the reception area 310 on the shared memory 300 in which the print data is stored. (Recipient) is set in the NCS 228 (step S1002). Next, when print data is sent together with the queue name from the PC 102 to the NCS 228 (step S1003), the NCS 228 stores the print data in the reception area 310 on the shared memory 300 set by the control module 211d (step S1004).

  In addition, the control module 211d activates the filter application 215 and sets the reception area 310 (reception destination) on the shared memory 300 in the filter application 215 using the standard input (step S1005). The filter application 215 reads the print data from the reception area 310 on the shared memory 300 (step S1006), and after the conversion process, outputs the converted print data to the standard output (step S1007). The control module 211d transmits the converted print data to the PDL 211a (step S1008), and interprets the converted print data by the PDL 211a.

  According to such a configuration, when the print data is read by the filter application 215, the standard input is not used, and the print data is read from the reception area 310 on the shared memory. it can. The processing speed after the conversion process by the filter application 215 is slower than that of the above-described embodiment, but the memory reserved for the filter application 215 can be reduced by not using the writing area 320. . For this reason, the area that can be used by other applications increases, and the memory can be used effectively.

  The storage area control method described in this embodiment can be realized by executing a program prepared in advance on a computer such as a personal computer or a workstation. This program is recorded on a computer-readable recording medium such as a hard disk, a flexible disk, a CD-ROM, an MO, and a DVD, and is executed by being read from the recording medium by the computer. The program may be a transmission medium that can be distributed via a network such as the Internet.

  As described above, the present invention is effective for an image forming apparatus that performs a filtering process, and particularly, an image forming apparatus that performs a filtering process in which the volume of image data changes greatly and an image forming apparatus that handles image data having a large capacity. Is suitable.

100 system 101 multifunction machine 102 PC
103, 104 Printer 105 LAN
106 Router 107 Internet 108 PSTN / ISDN network 211 Printer application 211a PDL
211d Control module 215 Filter application 216 Filter setting application 228 NCS
300 Shared memory 310 Reception area 320 Write area

JP 2004-254209 A

Claims (15)

An image forming apparatus having a plurality of functions including a print data filtering function,
Storage means for storing data respectively used in the plurality of functions;
Filter processing means for filtering the print data;
Determining means for determining an area to be allocated for storing the print data out of the storage means based on the data capacity of the print data;
The storage means stores at least one of the print data before the filter process or the print data after the filter process in an area determined by the determination means, and the filter process in another area. An image forming apparatus, wherein data used for a function other than the function is stored.   The determining unit allocates different areas to the print data before the filter process and the print data after the filter process, and determines the post-filter process based on a data capacity of the print data and a conversion magnification of the filter process. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a capacity of an area for storing the print data is changed.   3. The image forming apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the determination unit assigns an area larger than a data capacity of the print data after the filter process as an area for storing the print data after the filter process.   The determination means includes an area for storing the print data before the filtering process and an area for the filtering process among areas allocated for storing the printing data based on a data capacity of the printing data and a conversion magnification of the filtering process. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a ratio with an area for storing the subsequent print data is changed.   The filter processing unit divides the print data after the filtering process and sequentially assigns the allocated area to the allocated area when the volume of the print data after the filtering process is larger than the capacity of the area allocated by the determining unit. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the image forming apparatus stores the image.   The determining unit allocates only an area for storing the print data before the filtering process, and changes a capacity of the area for storing the printing data before the filtering process based on a data capacity of the print data. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1.   The image forming apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the determination unit allocates an area that is greater than or equal to a data capacity of the print data before the filter process as an area for storing the print data before the filter process. In an image forming apparatus having a plurality of functions including a print data filtering function, a storage area control method for controlling a storage area for storing data respectively used in the plurality of functions,
A determination step of determining an area to be allocated for storing the print data out of the storage areas based on the data capacity of the print data;
At least one of the print data before the filter processing or the print data after the filter processing is stored in the region determined in the determination step, and other regions other than the filter processing function are stored in the other regions. A storage process for storing data used in the function;
A storage area control method comprising:   In the determining step, different areas are allocated to the print data before the filter process and the print data after the filter process, and after the filter process based on a data capacity of the print data and a conversion magnification of the filter process 9. The storage area control method according to claim 8, wherein a capacity of an area for storing the print data is changed.   10. The storage area control method according to claim 9, wherein, in the determination step, an area larger than a data capacity of the print data after the filter process is allocated as an area for storing the print data after the filter process. .   In the determining step, based on the data capacity of the print data and the conversion magnification of the filter process, an area for storing the print data before the filter process and the filter process among areas allocated for storing the print data The storage area control method according to claim 8, wherein a ratio with an area for storing the subsequent print data is changed.   In the storing step, when the capacity of the print data after the filtering process is larger than the capacity of the area allocated in the determining step, the print data after the filtering process is divided and sequentially stored in the allocated area. The storage area control method according to claim 8, wherein the storage area control method is a storage area control method.   In the determining step, only an area for storing the print data before the filter process is allocated, and a capacity of the area for storing the print data before the filter process is changed based on a data capacity of the print data. The storage area control method according to claim 8.   14. The storage area control method according to claim 13, wherein, in the determination step, an area that is larger than a data capacity of the print data before the filter process is allocated as an area for storing the print data before the filter process. .   A storage area control program for causing a computer to execute the storage area control method according to any one of claims 8 to 14.

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